1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for controlling access to television programming and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for controlling the time any particular person may view television.
2. History of the Prior Art
There have been many reports that children view too much television, especially when the children are unsupervised. Our modern society which often requires that all of the adults in a family group have full time employment has to a great extent limited the ability of parents to supervise their children's viewing of television. Moreover, parents' attempts to limit the time that their children spend watching television are often arbitrary and lead to stress and quarrels within the family.
There have been attempts to provide apparatus that limit a person's ability to view television. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,033 discloses an arrangement including a timer using a reed switch and magnetic tokens which are used to provide power to a television set so that it may be viewed. This arrangement does not provide for multiple users, nor dies it identify authorized users. U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,696 discloses an arrangement including a microprocessor storing passwords which may be entered to turn on a television. Although this arrangement provides for multiple users, it does not provide for time limits or reward the users for cooperating in their viewing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,368 discloses an arrangement including circuitry for actuating a pay television channel through the use of a ticket inserted into a receptacle to change a resonant frequency. U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,362 discloses an arrangement including a timer for disabling a television program. U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,176 discloses an arrangement for distributing television to motel rooms under control of a key arrangement and for billing that distribution. U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,672 discloses an arrangement for providing pay television during particular time periods in response to a magnetically striped record. U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,461 discloses an arrangement for receiving pay television including a card or ticket reader which operates in response to a code to permit unscrambling of a television program. U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,107 discloses an arrangement including a circuitry for blocking various channels which may be viewed on a television set and having various home entry abilities.
In general, the pay television arrangements are much too complicated and expensive for use by parents, within the home. None of the arrangements proposed are directed particularly to controlling television use by children and encouraging responsibility and cooperation.